Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 298: Health; requirements for nurse staffing in hospitals; provide
Last action March 3, 2026 · House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
A House committee substitute for HB 298 would require Georgia hospitals to adopt written nurse and ancillary staffing plans, create nurse staffing committees, and set up state reporting and an advisory commission to review staffing conditions.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Comm Sub version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Georgia law currently has no statewide requirement that hospitals maintain formal nurse staffing plans. This bill would add a new article to the state's hospital regulation law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 7 of Title 31) requiring every hospital, other than state owned or operated hospitals, to adopt a written nurse services staffing plan covering both nurses and unlicensed support staff called ancillary personnel. Hospitals would have to form a standing nurse staffing committee, made up mostly of registered nurses who provide direct patient care, to help develop and evaluate the plan and report to the hospital's governing board at least twice a year. Hospitals would report staffing information annually to the Department of Community Health as part of their existing hospital questionnaire, and the department would run a secure online portal where hospital staff can anonymously report unsafe staffing conditions for possible investigation. The bill also creates a 12 member advisory commission, appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker, to evaluate staffing committees each year and report recommendations to legislative leaders.
What the bill does
- Requires hospitals to adopt a written nurse services staffing plan covering minimum staffing levels for nurses and ancillary (unlicensed support) personnel in each patient care unit.
- Creates a standing nurse staffing committee at each hospital, at least 75 percent of which must be registered nurses providing direct patient care.
- Requires hospitals to report staffing plan and committee information annually to the Department of Community Health as a confidential addendum to the hospital questionnaire.
- Directs the department to build a secure online portal so hospital staff can anonymously report unsafe staffing conditions for investigation by the Healthcare Facility Regulation Division.
- Establishes a 12-member advisory commission appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker to evaluate staffing committees annually and recommend legislative changes.
- Makes committee proceedings, staffing plans, and anonymous reports confidential and exempt from Georgia's open records law.
Who it affects
Georgia hospitals and their governing boards, registered nurses and unlicensed ancillary hospital staff, hospital patients, the Department of Community Health and its Healthcare Facility Regulation Division, and the members appointed to the new advisory commission. State owned or operated hospitals are excluded.
Why it matters
Hospitals would face new legal obligations to plan and document nurse and support staff coverage, give staff a formal channel to raise staffing concerns without retaliation, and let the state investigate anonymous complaints about unsafe conditions, potentially affecting patient care levels and hospital budgets statewide.
Key provisions
- New Code Section 31-7-30 defines key terms including ancillary personnel, hospital, nurse services staffing plan, nurse staffing committee, and patient care unit.
- Code Section 31-7-31 requires hospitals to adopt a staffing plan considering accreditation standards, patient needs, and staffing budgets, and to make current staffing levels visible to staff each shift.
- Code Section 31-7-32 requires each hospital to form a nurse staffing committee that meets quarterly, evaluates the staffing plan semiannually, and reports to the hospital's governing body; committee records are made confidential.
- Code Section 31-7-33 requires hospitals to report staffing plan and committee compliance information annually to the Department of Community Health as a confidential addendum.
- Code Section 31-7-34 requires the department to maintain an anonymous online reporting portal for unsafe staffing conditions and allows enforcement action under Code Section 31-2-8 for violations.
- Code Section 31-7-35 creates a 12-member advisory commission to evaluate staffing committees annually and submit public recommendations to legislative leaders.
- Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.
From the bill
“The governing body of a hospital shall adopt and implement a written nurse services staffing plan to provide that an adequate number and skill mix of nurses and ancillary personnel consistent with the guidelines of the hospital's accrediting entity are available.”
“The department shall maintain a secure online portal for the submission by hospital staff members of anonymous reports of unsafe staffing conditions in any hospital patient care unit”
“At least 75 percent of the members of the committee shall be registered nurses who: (1) Provide direct patient care during at least 50 percent of their work time”
Discussed in meetings (3)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Health Committee, March 2, 2026
From 1:26:45 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the substitute for HB 298 would establish nurse staffing committees to put existing best practices into law and improve communication between frontline staff and hospital executives. The sponsor said the measure could help recruit and retain nurses and that participating nursing and hospital organizations supported the negotiated language. A Georgia Nurses Association witness supported giving nurses a role in decisions about nurse and support-staff staffing. The sponsor offered an amendment removing language connecting staff availability to the level of care needed in hospital patient-care units. One member asked why that language should be removed when emergency, intensive-care and other units have different needs. The sponsor said the parties requested the change and believed the bill could still accomplish its goal. The committee adopted the amendment and approved the substitute as amended by voice votes.
House Rules Committee, March 4, 2026
From 1:38:38 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A committee member requested HB 298, saying it would give nurses a role in hospital treatment decisions and make established practices more consistent statewide. The member reported agreement among affected parties and unanimous Health Committee approval. No questions or decision followed.
Status timeline
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Trey Kelley (R, HD-16)
- Lee Hawkins (R, HD-27)
- Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)
- Matt Hatchett (R, HD-155)
- Derrick McCollum (R, HD-30)
Topics
- hospital staffing
- nurse staffing ratios
- health care regulation
- patient safety
- nursing